One went to prison. Another died awaiting trial. One was placed on leave, but escaped prosecution because the statute of limitations had expired. Another was removed from ministry and retired.

Four Roman Catholic priests with ties to New Jersey were among the hundreds of men identified in a sweeping grand jury report released Tuesday, detailing a litany of abuses against more than 1,000 children.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said senior church officials sought to cover up the often horrific abuse, while keeping records of it.

“Church officials routinely and purposefully described the abuse as horseplay and wrestling and inappropriate conduct,” Shapiro said at a news conference. “It was none of those things. It was child sexual abuse, including rape.”

The report, a scathing criticism that looked back at cases now decades old, concluded that a succession of Catholic bishops and other diocesan leaders tried to shield the church from bad publicity and financial liability by covering up abuse, failing to report accused clergy to police and discouraging victims from going to law enforcement.

Not all the names were disclosed. Some current and former clergy went to court to prevent the report’s release, arguing it violated their constitutional rights and due process of law.

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The scandal in New JerseyIn June, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the former Archbishop of Newark and Archbishop Emeritus of Washington, D.C., was removed from public ministry in the wake of allegations he abused a teenage boy 50 years ago while serving as a priest in New York.

McCarrick, who has since resigned as a cardinal, was one of the highest-ranking American leaders in the Catholic Church to be removed from ministry over sex abuse charges after the allegations against him were deemed “credible and substantiated” by church officials. At the same time, church officials in New Jersey revealed for the first time that the cardinal had previously been accused of sexual misconduct with three adults during his time in the state.